Synopses & Reviews
The clashes between President Abraham Lincoln and Chief Justice Roger B. Taney over slavery, secession, and the president's constitutional war powers went to the heart of Lincoln's presidency. James Simon, author of the acclaimed What Kind of Nation an account of the battle between President Thomas Jefferson and Chief Justice John Marshall to define the new nation brings to vivid life the passionate struggle during the worst crisis in the nation's history, the Civil War. The issues that underlaid that crisis race, states' rights, and the president's wartime authority resonate today in the nation's political debate.
Lincoln and Taney's bitter disagreements began with Taney's Dred Scott opinion in 1857, when the chief justice declared that the Constitution did not grant the black man any rights that the white man was bound to honor. In the famous Lincoln-Douglas debates, Lincoln attacked the opinion as a warped judicial interpretation of the Framers' intent and accused Taney of being a member of a pro-slavery national conspiracy.
In his first inaugural address, President Lincoln insisted that the South had no legal right to secede. Taney, who administered the oath of office to Lincoln, believed that the South's secession was legal and in the best interests of both sections of the country.
Once the Civil War began, Lincoln broadly interpreted his constitutional powers as commander in chief to prosecute the war, suspending the writ of habeas corpus, censoring the mails, and authorizing military courts to try civilians for treason. Taney opposed every presidential wartime initiative and openly challenged Lincoln's suspension of the writ of habeas corpus. He accusedthe president of assuming dictatorial powers in violation of the Constitution. Lincoln ignored Taney's protest, convinced that his actions were both constitutional and necessary to preserve the Union.
Almost 150 years after Lincoln's and Taney's deaths, their words and actions reverberate in constitutional debate and political battle. Lincoln and Chief Justice Taney tells their dramatic story in fascinating detail.
Review
"The United States has faced a number of national emergencies, fake or real, but indisputably the greatest national emergency came with the Civil War. James F. Simon has written an exciting and notable book where Abraham Lincoln and Roger B. Taney, the president and the chief justice, two men of the highest intelligence and passionate judgment, argues the future of this democratic republic." Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.
Review
"Lincoln's and Taney's struggles over the definition of human freedom and executive power have long called for a definitive study by an informed legal scholar, and James. F. Simon has responded with a riveting, accessible, and ingenious study. This book fills a gaping void in the Lincoln literature." Harold Holzer, author of Lincoln at Cooper Union, co-chairman, U.S. Lincoln Bicentennial Commission
Review
"The tug of war between the President and the Chief Justice during the Civil War reverberates to our own days. James Simon tells the tale with insight and verve." Gabor Boritt, author of The Gettysburg Gospel: The Lincoln Speech That Nobody Knows, director of the Civil War Institute at Gettysburg College
Review
"The United States suffers an unexpected attack. The president deploys the armed forces and assumes extrordinary powers that go well beyond the Constitution. Hundreds of persons suspected of aiding the enemy are arrested and held without charge. James F. Simon discusses these tensions between the president and the Supreme Court, created not by 9/11, but those between President Abraham Lincoln and Chief Justice Roger B. Taney during the Civil War. This well-written and engaging narrative is a primer for today's challenge of balancing national security and civil liberties." Frank J. Williams, chief justice, Supreme Court of Rhode Island, chair of The Lincoln Forum
Review
"In a clear, declarative style, and with balanced, fair analysis, James Simon combines legal history and grand narrative to tell the compelling story of Lincoln's epic battles with Taney. Simon does not blink on Lincoln's overreach on the suspension of habeas corpus, nor does he shy away from Taney's retrograde racial judgments. This is a good, provocative read, and a reminder of why the constitutional separation o powers is so important, in war or peace." David W. Blight, Yale University, author of Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory
Review
"Simon...skillfully charts the battles that pitted Taney's acute legal mind against Lincoln's transcendent one." Kirkus Reviews
Synopsis
Traces the political and personal clashes between the sixteenth president and his Chief Justice, profiling their disparate views about African-American rights, the South's legal ability to secede, and presidential constitutional powers during wartime. 40,000 first printing.
About the Author
James F. Simon is the Martin Professor of Law and Dean Emeritus at New York Law School. He is the author of six previous books on American history, law, and politics, including What Kind of Nation: Thomas Jefferson, John Marshall, and the Epic Struggle to Create a United States, and lives with his wife in West Nyack, New York.
Table of Contents
CONTENTS
Introduction
Chapter One "A Moonlight Mind"
Chapter Two "My Politics Are Short and Sweet"
Chapter Three "The Monstrous Injustice of Slavery"
Chapter Four Dred Scott
Chapter Five "The Better Angels of Our Nature"
Chapter Six "All the Laws But One"
Chapter Seven "A People's Contest"
Chapter Eight Silencing the Agitator
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
Notes
Index